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Friday, November 17, 2017

Everything is in one post this week. A beautiful finish. The project I've been focusing on this week. And a lovely surprise at the end.

Finished my Bampton Cowl last week. Took pictures last weekend in the snow. Most of the snow melted during the week but we're supposed to get a lot more this weekend. Should be fun.

A nice size. I don't really like cowls that go around twice. This cowl is made with sport weight yarn (leftover from my Branches and Buds Pullover). I still have some of this creamy/beige left.

Stretches out nice.

Looks amazing after blocking.

And I've been trying to get my Spotlight sweater done for tomorrow. The yarn is Feisty Fibres and the dyer of the yarn is in town tonight and tomorrow (doing a trunk show at my work). I would love to have it done but I don't think that's going to happen. Unless I skip sleeping tonight.

And I was surprised with flowers this morning. It's our 16th anniversary today, and even though my husband is currently living in England, he sent me these. And they smell great.

Friday, November 10, 2017

First up is the test-knit I made last month. The pattern, Little Bit Nostalgia, is up on ravelry. Used a gradient yarn that I've shown pictures of on here before.

Lovely lace pattern. You change needle sizes about half way through which makes the cowl come in a bit at the top.

Sits nice around the neck.

And is quite long.

During the holidays, my job is going to require me to work a couple late nights. With my husband now in England for work, I wanted to give our youngest, Floyd, a little something special to cuddle with at night when I'm not here. I suggested a stuffed animal of some kind. He asked for a rainbow heart. I bought an acrylic yarn and used this pattern. Crocheted up pretty quick.

I think he likes it.

Finished another cowl. Yarn bought from work and is Malabrigo, Caracol in the Diana colourway. Pattern is Waltz Through the Forest. A quick knit that I was able to make during down time at work over the course of a couple days.

It was quite long after washing. I laid it flat to dry for a bit, then put it in the dryer which helped a lot.

Got to love the colours in this yarn. It reminded me of a stained glass window. Resistance was futile.

And I finally finished a pair of socks! And they're for me! Realized I have been using the Fish Lips Kiss heel for socks for a year now and this is the first pair I've kept for myself. And they are the same length. Must not have pulled the one up all the way for the picture.

Very colorful. And very comfy. Yarn was from JoAnn's and I can't remember exactly what it is. Need to find the ball band.

A Barley hat, pattern by Tin Can Knits and my first sample for my job. Used two yarns held together, one of them being mohair - Sugar Bush Bliss and Drizzle. Hat is super soft. I might need to make one of these for me to keep.

Fits great. But taking selfies on a rainy day is hard.

And I got my sewing machine out! Made a quick Halloween table runner.

But since I didn't have Halloween fabric for the back, I decided to make the back a second Fall themed table runner making it reversible.

I used orange for the top thread and the bobbin for the quilting. Orange goes through the black squares on the Halloween side. And through the orange squares on the Fall side. Think the Fall side needs some appliqué but it's good enough to use now.

And one last little finish. This is actually one of seven Poppies that I made. Above is one of two I made using this pattern. I made five more using this pattern, version 5. They're smaller and have the four classic petals.

One of the things I missed while living in the States (which I didn't expect to miss), was wearing Poppies in November and Remembrance Day. The Veterans Day sales kind of piss me off. Here, it is a solemn day, time to remember the dead, not get a great deal at a store. Okay, stepping off soap box now.

What did you finish this week? I'll have more to share next week as I finished another cowl last night and blocked it. Still need to take pictures. Maybe I'll get some more WIP's finished to share. Fingers crossed.

Thursday, November 9, 2017

Pictures were taken yesterday but ran out of time to write the WIP Wednesday post. And despite having more than enough projects on the needles to keep me busy for weeks, I have 3 new WIP's to share with you today. And don't think I haven't finished anything. I have several finishes to share. Hopefully I'll get that post written and posted tomorrow. Lots of lovely knits to share. Let's get to the new WIP's.

First is a hat for my daughter. It's the Stormy Harbour hat pattern that I test-knit for Sarah of Imagined Landscapes. I made two of these before and mailed them to Jen for her hat-along (found here and here). But I loved the pattern and knew I would knit it again. I hadn't looked at the pattern that Sarah published after test-knitting and it is so good. The test-knit was set up differently and probably confusing to some but now it has a great flow.

My daughter requested a new hat that didn't have any holes. She meant lace but I understood. Yarn is new to me, Sugar Bush, Bold. It's a Canadian yarn similar to Cascade 220 Superwash with a ton of colours. Works great, too. Love the magic of twisted stitches.

And this little Cyclops tree might look done, but he still needs to be decorated. And arms. I used the Generosi-trees pattern by Anna of Mochimochi Land. Fairly quick knit. Worsted weight yarn and just a couple hours to make. I plan on making several of these to give as gifts this year. This one is for us to keep. I think I'll put a cardboard circle in the bottom of the next one to see if that helps it stand up better. 4 year old loves it.

And a new sweater for me, because why not. Not like I have any gift knitting I should be doing. (Only 2 cardigans, an afghan, socks, a couple cowls and maybe another afghan - that's not much, right? Oh, and two quilts. Yikes!) Yarn is Feisty Fibres (another new to me yarn)and I couldn't resist it when my boss brought it into the store. I'm making a Spotlight sweater using a bright green for the yoke colourwork. And the dyer is coming to the store next weekend to do a trunk show. Should be fun. Slightly challenging myself to get the sweater done by then, but I don't think that will happen. Maybe. We'll see.

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

I'm on the ball this week - taking pictures and scheduling a blog post! Been working on a few different projects this week so thought I'd share what I've been up to.

On the weekend, I finally did the heel of this second sock and have been knitting the foot while watching tv or when I have a spare five minutes. Don't think they'll be done in time to share this Friday. Maybe next Friday.

Bampton Cowl. I did several pattern repeats of this the other night while trying to catch up on some podcasts (I think I have over 20 waiting for me!) Have 4 repeats to go. I also knit another inch of my Lifesavers cardigan but it doesn't look much different so no picture today.

My poor Mystery Knit-Along shawl. It's been set aside and forgotten. Deadline for a finished pic is Friday. Don't think I'll make it but hope to get a few more rows knit before then.

And I've been working on some Poppies. I really did miss seeing people wear Poppies in November while we lived in the States. Hope to make a few more this week for myself and family. I used this free pattern but switched the stitches to American sizes (used single, double and treble crochets instead of double, treble and double trebles).

Friday, October 20, 2017

Things have been quiet here on the blog, but they haven't been in my day-to-day life. On October 10th, I started work... at a yarn store... part-time. So far, I have resisted buying anything but the wishlist of what I'd like to buy is very long in my head. Needless to say, the blog is going to suffer (something had to give, right?) but I'll still do a couple posts a month with what I'm working on or when I have something finished to share. I have several items on the needles (5, I think) but I've been focusing on two. Now that I have somewhere nice to wear all my knits to, a place where they're really appreciated, I want to get all the projects done so I can wear them to work. Here's a little update of what I've been working on.

I have one more increase row to do on my Lifesavers cardigan. Then I have to knit several inches to get to the ribbing at the bottom. Then sleeves. Think I might leave out the buttonholes when I do the edging at the end. Maybe. We'll see.

This is new to the blog. It's the Bampton cowl. I made the shawl this summer but I bought a new dress for work and I didn't really have any knits done that went with it, so... I cast on this cowl. I had a full skein of the creamy beige colour leftover from my Branches and Buds pullover, almost like it was meant to be.

And I finished the test-knit cowl I was knitting. Still can't show pictures here yet, but thought I'd show you what was left of the yarn. And yes, I already have plans for it, too.

I finished this embroidery this week. For the third time. Yes, I have stitched this twice, didn't like it and ripped it out. First time I stitched each square a different colour. Second time I used white and some pink. This was part of the Super Stitcher's Club by Studio MME

This time I used green, yellow and white. Like this combination. Now I need to iron it. Think it will become a hot pad for under a teapot.

And I did some little cross-stitches in September. Still waiting to be ironed and framed. The small one will become a necklace (part of a kit from Jo-Ann's). The poop was a gift from one of son's last month for my birthday. Got to love him.

And now that I've blogged, I can think about which shawl I'm going to wear to work tomorrow. Going to be wearing black clothes. Any thoughts which one I should wear? They are Zuzu, Hogmanay and Lokum.

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

I've divided the sleeves from the body of my Lifesavers cardigan. Still lots of knitting left to do.

And I still can't show you the test-knit I've been working on but thought I'd share another picture of the yarn. Worked on it yesterday while watching my son play soccer. Loving how the pattern and yarn work together. Hope to be able to post pattern pictures here soon.

Friday, September 29, 2017

It's rainy and cold here today, so let's look back at a couple finishes I had this month when it was hot and sunny.

I finished the Owlet for my son. It's chunky/bulky weight yarn, not great for asking a kid to model in the summer. But he loved it and was proud to show it off. He'll be gifted this sweater for Christmas, when it's more weather appropriate.

The back. I originally had yellow buttons set aside but I only had enough for 5 owls (there are 13 on his sweater). I wanted all the owls to have button eyes, so I found some other buttons in my stash and used yellow thread to attach them.

He's getting to be a great model.

Less sun in his face for this one. And you can see that his pants are on backwards. Something I didn't notice until I downloaded the pictures from the camera to the computer. Band-aid is from a fall down the stairs earlier this month.

Close-up of the owls.

And I finished my Hello, Hello shawl almost 2 weeks ago. Took pictures of it this week when the weather was crazy hot. I think my cheeks get redder and redder in these pictures. It was too hot to take pictures with a huge shawl wrapped around my neck.